Office of the CFO Welcomes University Health Services (UHS)

October 30, 2014

Campus Colleagues,

I'm pleased to announce that University Health Services (UHS) - Tang Center will be temporarily joining the Office of the CFO, effective immediately. As with the recent additions of Supply Chain Management, Property Management, Library Bindery, and Business Contracts & Brand Protection -- UHS will report to me while senior management continues to evaluate options for a permanent reporting relationship for Business & Administration Services.

The synergies of our service models make this new partnership with UHS a natural fit. We both put campus partners and clients at the center of our work, and we both measure our success on the success of the clients we support. Please join me in welcoming our new colleagues to our unified team focused on providing campus with innovative, collaborative, client-focused financial, analytical, administrative -- and now health care -- management. 

The Executive Director of UHS, Claudia Covello, leads a team of over 300 staff who provide medical, mental health, and health and wellness programs for faculty, staff, and students. UHS also manages the Berkeley Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), a comprehensive major medical insurance plan providing medical, mental health, prescription, vision, and dental services to 22,000 students.

UHS' 2015 goals are to:

  • Prioritize campus wellness through integrated prevention, policy, treatment, education, and lifestyle programs
  • Enhance sexual violence prevention coordination with other campus units
  • Bolster student mental health, including trainings in responding to students in distress and online self-screening tools
  • Renovate the Tang Center for the first time since its construction to serve more patients and better integrate medical and mental health care
  • Improve care coordination by tracking critical referrals, establishing clinic teams with counselors embedded in the medical practice, and connecting every incoming patient with a primary care provider. 
  • Expand campus-wide nutrition initiatives to promote accessibility to healthier choices for students, faculty, and staff. 

In order to accomplish these goals, it's essential UHS is operating from a stable, sustainable funding model, and the partnership with our office will ensure UHS has the financial expertise they need to move forward. In addition, this year the UHS team will be putting the student health insurance plan out to bid and engaging many campus stakeholders in the process. Our joint engagement and complementary skill sets will help to support this work. In a previous role at Volunteers of America I had responsibility for a large health care division, so I hope to be of service to Claudia and her team.

I'll be working closely with Claudia and her leadership team over the next few weeks to incorporate UHS' goals and priorities into our office's existing strategic plan

Thank you, 
Rosemarie